The White House found out that a junior aide in the West Wing recorded meetings with President Donald Trump and later played them to impress his friends.
The New York Times first reported the revelation on Thursday by citing several people familiar with the episode, adding that in recent times additional efforts have been taken by senior officials to prevent future leaks coming out of the White House.
Since Trump entered the White House, he has faced a series of damaging and, at times, embarrassing leaks. Although it is known that officials have periodically taken steps to prevent such leaks, it is unclear what specific action was taken in the case of the aide who reportedly taped meetings.
Meanwhile, the White House has also put in place measures to try to put the unauthorized flow of information from the West Wing into a corner, with aides expected to leave their personal cell phones in lockers when they go to work, as well as a device that detects non-government phones and occasionally scans for violations.
The White House also stopped having large daily meetings, which were commonplace in past administrations, and replaced them with smaller gatherings. One White House official told the Times that large meetings made leaks more likely.
President Trump has regularly blamed his communications team for negative headlines in the media, claiming that he gets “the worst press.” He also believes that the leaks have distracted the public from his accomplishments in the Oval Office, such as tax reform and the recent easing of tensions with North Korea.
The White House recently found itself under harsh criticism over an offending remark about Republican Senator John McCain’s cancer diagnosis that a White House official made during an internal meeting last week.
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